>> announcer: starting right now on "this week with george stephanopoulos" -- against the rope. >> i don't want to think back if only i did one more rally, i would have won. >> announcer: as his path to victory narrows, donald trump lashing out. >> all of these liars will be sued after the election. >> announcer: and not backing down. >> i will totally accept the results if i win. >> announcer: hillary clinton playing offense. >> every time donald trump says he wants to jail his opponent, meaning me, i think to myself, you know, we don't do that in america. >> announcer: clinton pulling ahead but can she break away? and can trump make a comeback, or has he slipped too far behind?

only on "this week." plus, how would a trump loss affect the gop? we talk to the independent candidate threatening to edge trump out in a key red state. from abc news, it's "this week." here now, chief anchor, george stephanopoulos. good morning chlt. with two weeks and two days to go, what is the end game for donald trump? can he pull off the most spectacular upset in election history, or has his unprecedented campaign hit an impregnable wall? our new abc news/"washington post" tracking poll taken after the final debate has hillary clinton now ahead by 12 points. that 50-38 advantage the largest of the campaign, and it shows voters firmly rejecting trump's closing arguments. 59% don't think the vote is rigged. only 29% support his reluctance to accept an election loss. 69% don't like the way he's handling charges of sexual assault. the clock is ticking.

from this far behind. >> i just got caught in the rain. i'm soaking wet. how does my hair look? is it okay? >> the rallies can still be fun but there were moments this week when donald trump just seemed done. tearing his notes at the end of the debate. getting booed at that charity dinner. >> here she is tonight in public pretending not to hate catholics. [ audience booing ] >> stalking off from a local interview in ohio. >> you've been labeled a racist. you've been called a sexist. >> thank you very much. >> how do you respond to that? >> i am the least racist person you've ever met. >> and contemplating defeat. >> we got to win. what a waste of time if we don't pull this off. >> his saturday morning speech in gettysburg was supposed to focus on his first 100 days as president, but it kicked off with familiar complaints about voter fraud, the media and his

>> every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. total fabrication. all of these liars will be sued after the election is over. >> he goes to gettysburg and says he's going to sue women who have made accusations against him. i'm going to keep talking about what we want to do. >> trump is still promising an upset. >> we will shock the world. this is going to be brexit plus. >> but 'up against a clinton campaign with more money and ground troops, and she's closing with a direct pitch to trump supporters. >> i understand that they need a president who cares about them, will listen to them, and i want to be their president too. >> and we are joined by donald trump's son, eric trump. thank you for coming in. your first appearance i think on "this week." thanks for coming. >> thank you, george.

digits, 12 points in our tracking point and show the arguments your father is making are not working. how do you turn this around? >> i don't give much credence to "the washington post" polls. before the florida primary they said we were only winning the state by six. we ended up by winning over 20 points so again "the washington post" polls i don't give a lot of credence. >> your polling average shows about a -- >> look at the "l.a." times" poll. we're up by two points. the ibd point we're up by two points. rasmussen, we're up by a few. in fact, there was a reuters poll that came out this morning, two states, minnesota and michigan within the margin of error. these haven't been won by a republican in 30 years. >> you don't think you're fighting from behind right now? >> listen, maybe but i can tell you when i'm on the ground the amount of love out there is incredible. the amount of democrats that i have coming up to me every single day and saying i've been a democrat my entire life and my entire family is made up of democrats. we're coming out and voting for you and look at the backup of some of these polls including the one you just

i mean, we're getting the union votes, we're getting the law enforcement votes. so many of these votes have always traditionally gone to the democratic party and i can tell you we're getting 90% of this vote. >> most polls do show most democrats going for hillary clinton right now. do you think you might be living in a bubble of your own support? >> no, i don't think so at all. honestly, look at last night. i'll give you a perfect example and look at last night. he was in cleveland. he had 10,000 people in cleveland. hillary and tim kaine, they were in pennsylvania. they had 600 people in a gym. i mean the enthusiasm levels are just totally, totally off the charts, and, george, the amount of people i have come up to me every single day saying i haven't voted in 50 years. i'm embarrassed to say that. they always start with i'm embarrassed to say this to you, mr. trump, but i haven't voted in 50 years and i'm coming out and i'm voting for your father because i believe he's going to change the country and i believe we don't need another career politician in the oval office. i hear that all day every day and those people aren't on the voter rolls, so, listen, i think

and i really believe we're going to win this. >> there were times when father appeared irritated and got the boos at the al smith dinner. how are his spirits? >> amazing. he is an amazing fighter and what he's already accomplished is nothing short of remarkable. he's fought maybe the greatest political machine in the history of the world, which, you know, one that you know better than anyone. he's fought, quite frankly, the entire mainstream media who has always counted him out, never thought he could do it. always put him down whether it be the primaries or no he's fought super pac money the likes of which has never been seen before. >> he wins no matter what happens on election day? >> to me as his son he wins no matter what. i mean, i'm so incredibly proud. he's carried the weight of this country for the last 18 months. i happen to think we're going to win. i mean, when i'm in these states and i just came back from north carolina and i just came back from ohio, i mean, you can't drive 500 yards without seeing another trump sign. you don't see a single hillary sign. the enthusiasm differential between the two candidates is

not even close, and i think you're going to see that on election day. >> 11 women have come forward and accused your father of sexual assault. he said yesterday all of them are lying. he's going to sue. all these people are lying even though they describe behavior that your father bragged about on that tape? >> george, where were these women before? where were -- it's not like my father is a hidden individual. right? i mean, he's one of the most knowing people in the world. whether he was -- >> several have made accusations in past court filings going back many years. >> whether he was building hotels, 15 seasons of "apprentice" and then the day the hillary wikileaks come out the day that the hillary wikileaks come out all of a sudden people start coming forward. i think you have to be naive to think that one and the other weren't coordinated together. i mean i think somebody would really need to be naive but the thing -- the depressing thing for me is how much time the press spends on that topic yet the dnc has an operative on a hidden camera that comes out bragging about how they incited violence, incited violence at

got police officers punched, a rally that got people hurt and no one even talks about it. i mean, you see these disgusting tactics used by the dnc. as a civilian i'm totally shocked by them. you cease these disgusting tactics by the dnc where their operatives are out bragging about -- >> we are going to ask joel benenson about that. he's coming up right after. let me finish. >> no one talks about it. it's very, very sad. >> let me finish on this. your father said he will sue. if he's president does he really want to be involved in a legal suit like this? >> i don't know. my father is a guy who will fight and he'll fight for this country and he's always fought for himself. quite frankly, throughout this whole process he's needed to fight for himself and he believes in a right and a wrong and when he feels that there's an injustice, i think you should stand up to ourselves and, quite frankly, we wouldn't have the problems we have in this nation if someone did a better job, if our politicians did a better job of standing up for our country and end stands up for himself. he is a fighter. that's who he is and, quite frankly, he is a great fighter and he believes in calling out right and wrong. >> but you know several -- he

but at least in one case, the "people" magazine reporter, she told six different friends and colleagues at the time. >> george, i just don't believe it. i just don't believe it. then you come out now with three weeks left in an election, three weeks left in an election. you know somebody told me, they go, eric, get ready for october. they told me this months and months ago. get ready for october. your family will live through the worst, most unthinkable, hardest month of your lives. get ready for october. what they'll throw at you, what the clinton machine will throw at you, you know, the dirty tr come out and the things they'll orchestrate. >> do you any evidence the clintons are behind it? >> look, you see the hidden videos. that's pretty bad stuff. when they're talking about going out -- >> talking about these other allegations. >> paying people to commit voter fraud. paying people to go incite fights at rallies which get people hurt, i think you see their true colors. i think you see their true colors in these wikileaks e-mails where they're going out making fun of christians, making fun of evangelicals and latinos. when donna brazile is giving debate questions to hillary

i mean, george, you know us for a long time. can you imagine what would happen if my father got the debate questions? >> you'd get pilloried. there's no question about that. talking about the debate, you know, your father did not on wednesday night say that he would accept the election results. is he now prepared to say that he will accept a clear result? unequivocally? >> he didn't say he wouldn't accept it either. my father will accept it 100% if it's fair. if it's fair. you've got 24 -- >> what does that mean exactly? >> you have 24 million voters, in this country, one in eight that are misregistered to vote. meaning information is inaccurate. you have 2 million people on the voter rolls right now that are dead. this is pew research that came out last week. you have 3 million in this country right now that are registered in multiple states. 14% of all noncitizens in this country are registered to vote. >> but there's scant evidence that that is actually affecting any elections. i'm just saying are you setting the groundwork there -- >> 2 million, 3 million people.

>> seems like you're suggesting the outcome is unfair no matter what happens. >> i think what my father is saying, i want a fair election. i want a fair election. you see the media pile on. 94% of all contributions that have gone to the campaigns have gone to the hillary campaign from the media, meaning when the media donates their money, 94% of that has gone to the clinton campaign. we've gotten less than 6% of it. i mean, you see -- you see this bias, right, and you see these numbers. you see, again 2 million people that are dead that are on the voter rolls in the various states. some of these states are being >> if it's a five or six-point win by hillary clinton, he'll accept it? >> if it's a fair outcome, he will absolutely accept it. no question about it. >> eric trump, thanks for coming in. >> thank you, george. we bring in joel benenson now chief strategist for the clinton campaign, also the top pollster, as well and, joel, thank you for coming in this morning. you just heard what eric trump had to say. and i want to show a video that gets into what he was talking about. these charges of inciting violence. >> if you're there and you're protesting and you do these actions, you will be attacked at

that's what we want. >> oh, so that's part of the process of getting -- of eliciting the reaction. >> the point is we know that trump's people will freak the [ bleep ] out. his security team will freak out and his supporters will lose their [ bleep ]. >> this is pretty shocking stuff now. i know there have been questions about the o'keefe videos in the past about the editing -- >> questions about ee keefe. >> yet both those operatives who were in these videos have now resigned and they did receive money from the dnc. they were subcontractors. isn't this exactly the kind of behavior you all have been complaining about? >> well, it's a video of someone who has a track record of doctoring videos. these people have resigned, whether they were talking to him on camera or some snippet there that's been manipulated and taken out of context, i don't know. it's the first time i've seen the video, george. what's been going on throughout this campaign in donald trump's own words we have video of donald trump saying, punch him in the mouth. i want him carried out on a stretcher. i mean this is a candidate

the republicans and donald trump or eric trump want to talk about james o'keefe instead of the words of the nominee of the republican party, i think it's showing a sign of desperation in the last weeks. >> are you confident you don't have any other operatives out there doing exactly the same thing? >> i'm pretty confident. i mean, i think, as i said, we're talking about a guy who has a track record of doctoring videos. these people resigned. as you said, and if this was happening day in and day out, we would know about it, number one, and number two, donald trump day after day on the stump was inciting people at his -- he said he'd like to punch him in the mouth. i could shoot somebody on fifth avenue and i wouldn't lose a single vote. let's be honest about who here has been inciting violence day in and day out at trump rallies. it's been donald trump and i think it's part of the reason why he's been lagging in the polls, why he's been unable to reach beyond his base. >> you saw our poll out this morning. 50-38, the biggest margin we've shown. number one, is that what you think is happening with the race

i've been this for awhile. i don't think it's over until people vote, but i think what's been happening consistently from the conventions on and through the debates is that hillary clinton is the only candidate in this race who's been talking to people beyond their base. yes, we have a strong democratic base. it's stronger than the republican base but she's been reaching out to republicans, independents, moderate voters, i think your poll shows that. and the reason why is because these people believe in america. they're optimistic about america and they want a president who will lift each other up, not tear each other >> the poll also shows that almost 60%, 59% of voters still are having a hard time with how hillary clinton is handling this whole e-mail question. can you put that behind you? >> well, i think when you look at your poll numbers, it is one factor people are putting into their whole decision and what your poll shows is voters have put it behind them. they're making a decision now between donald trump and hillary clinton and they're factoring in everything they know about the people. there's a lot of things in there about donald trump that people are very unsatisfied with

says he won't accept the results. >> we've also had a lot of focus on these wikileaks e-mails in recent days. donald trump yesterday in gettysburg talked about banning contributions from lobbyists who register for foreign -- either foreign governments or corporations, and there was an exchange in the e-mails between jennifer palmieri and robby mook debating whether to take money from foreign lobbyists. robby mook, i'm okay taking the money and dealing with any attacks. are you guys okay with that? money. does donald trump have a point? should these kind of contributions be allowed? >> well, first of all, i haven't spent a lot of time reading through wikileaks e-mails but i will tell you this, what we know is that many are not authentic. we know that this is a hack, 17 of -- no, because these e-mails, we have no idea whether they are authentic or not or whether they've been tampered with once the russians, which 17 american intelligence agencies say are responsible for these hackings have been manipulated. i have seen things -- i won't go into details --

that those are -- >> they may well be. i don't know. i know i've seen things that aren't authentic that we know aren't authentic, and it's not surprising. what's ridiculous about this whole conversation is that 17 intelligence agencies have said the russians are responsible for this. donald trump refuses to accept it, refuses to condemn them. they are meddling in an american election for the first time in history as far as we know, and we have a republican nominee for president who refuses to acknowledge what the american intelligence agencies have confirmed or condemn the bad actors here who happen to be the russians. >> let's take a look at the strategy for the last two weeks. how explicit is hillary clinton going to be in saying give me a congress i can work with, number one, and as you allocate resources, we saw you go into arizona this week. how are you going to divide time between running up the electoral map and trying to get a senate and house on your side. >> i think you make these decisions almost day by day, george.

a campaign, basically 16 days at this point and you know what it's like in those days and you want to make sure you solidify the votes in the states that you have and reach out where you can. i think in terms of going forward with the congress, i mean, hillary clinton has made it clear that she wants to bring this country together. she wants to unite people. as she said in the -- >> how is she going to do that? >> look, you were in the white house with her. you know how she does it, the same way she worked with tom delay, a republican, the whip of the house of the representatives to get reform on foster care to get more kids adopted so that they could get adopted out of foster care. she worked with someone who is a bitter archenemy to find common ground on issues you agree on and move the ball forward to make progress that will make a difference in people's lives. it's what she did when she got, you know, defeated on health care in '94, went back to work. worked with democrats and republicans to get c.h.i.p. insurance passed that insures 8 million kids and has a track record of doing that.

will be easy but there's only one candidate in the race and that is hillary clinton who is talking about the need to bring the country together, to be building an economy that works for everyone, not those at the top and make sure it as a country we create the country we want to be living up to our values where we do have each other's backs. not turing our backs on each other. >> what's your biggest worry right now? >> last couple of weeks your biggest worry is something unexpected. you know, the first race i did, george, on the consulting side when i left journalism with mayor mario cuomo. he said, every election there are going to be three things no matter how well prepared you are you can never anticipate. and how you deal with those three things and how each candidate does is going to determine who wins this election. we probably had more than three things we couldn't anticipate in this one. but i think we just have to stay steady, stick with our plan, keep delivering the message that hillary clinton is delivering about building the country we want to be and the people that we want to be for the future of our children and the next generation. >> joel benenson, thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me.

the first third party candidate to win a state since george wallace in 1968. independent candidate evan mcmullin joins us live. plus, insight and analysis from our powerhouse roundtable and martha raddatz on the front lines of the most critical battle against isis yet. she joins us from iraq. >> announcer: "this week with george stephanopoulos" brought to you by pacific life. helping generations of families achieve long-term financial security for over 145 years. ver 145 years. ? fifty years ago, humpback whales were nearly extinct. they rebounded because a decision was made to protect them. making the right decisions today for your long-term financial future can protect you and your family, and preserve your legacy. ask a financial advisor how retirement and life insurance solutions from pacific life

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this year it was edgy, even ugly so our survey this week we asked about presidents and humor. nearly 3/4 of mers said they thought it was important but a full 40% think neither of these candidates is all that funny. contrast that with the 68% who say president obama has a good sense of humor. something he honed with comedians jerry seinfeld. let's hope things lighten up with the winner after the election. when we come back the third party candidate who wants to start a eric mcmullin is next. ated to do something nice back. maybe your aunt sent you a crocheted scarf, you sent a thank you note... and the crochet just kept on coming. well, at carmax, you don't have to return the favor. they'll buy your car even if you don't buy a car from them. because feeling obligated is uncomfortable. and tight. in places it shouldn't be. carmax won't make you feel that way. lucky you. . .

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we're leading in ohio. we're leading in north carolina. we're leading all over the place. >> having a tremendous problem in utah.

not deep red but purple. the mormon voters there just don't like donald trump. >> we're going to make a strong play to win utah's electoral votes. >> and trump is getting squeezed by native son evan mcmullin. >> hello, utah. >> the 40-year-old conservative mormon has been a cia operative, a congressional staffer for the gop, but in august he announced an independent run for president. calling himself the true conservative alternative to trump. and the latest polls show he's got a real shot at winning his home state. >> if we can send a strong message here from utah, it will change the discussion in washington and across this country. >> and evan mcmullin joins us now. mr. mcmullin, thank you for joining us, you're in boise, idaho, another state you're contesting right now. if you win idaho or utah where you're really competing well right now, you'd be the first third party candidate since george wallace to win a state. so, what would that mean exactly? what message would that send?

and donald trump in the electoral college, but that's only if the race between hillary and donald -- >> yeah, that's a real stretch. >> right now, yeah. right now it's not, donald trump is being dominated by hillary clinton and which is one of the reasons mindy finn, my running mate and i, warned against nominating him in the first place. but if it isn't close, then it will be a strong message i think to washington that people in this country in the mountain west and elsewhere in this country still stand on principle, the very same principles that made this country the most powerful and prosperous on earth, namely, the truth that we are all created equal. all men and women and that we all have inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. mindy and i are standing for these fundamental principles and truths, and that's our message. >> the top elected officials in the state of utah top republican elected officials in the state of utah have been critical of donald trump, people like senator mike lee said they will not submit him. mitt romney who did well in utah

would a public endorsement from him help you carry this state and where do things stand right now? >> well, right now we're either tied with hillary clinton and donald trump or leading in the polls, so we feel very good about where we are. we're depending on the endorsements and support of regular people across this country and in these mountain west states. they are the ones who are funding our campaign and they are supporting us. they are carrying our message online, on social media and that's the support that we care about. we've invited republican leaders to join us in this cause. the reality is that the vast majority of republican leaders are putting party ahead of principle and putting power over the interests of their own country. and that's the challenge that we have going forward. that's the challenge that this country has. that's the challenge that the republican party will have and that's the challenge that the conservative movement has which is why mindy and i are calling for a new conservative movement in this country. >> what is that movement?

a movement that is dedicated to these principles that i'm talking about, namely, the equality of all men and women. we are standing also for the cause of liberty, the idea that we all ought to have the power and the freedom to pursue happiness in the way we like. right now you have a party in the republican party that turns away people of different races, turns away people of different religions. that's not to say that all republicans feel this way. i was certainly raised republicans who are open to people of different backgrounds, but the reality is that even after 2012, the republican party knew that they needed to do more to appeal to minorities and to women and to millennials, and the reality is, it hasn't been able to do that, and, in fact, it's going in the wrong direction, not the right direction in its nomination of donald trump but then also in standing by trump even as he continues these bigoted, sexist, xenophobic messages to the united states and people our country. >> it seems like there will be a civil war in the republican party no matter what happens on

>> yes, i think that's true, but the reality is there was a battle after 2012 too and look where we are. look where the republican party is with donald trump. it's just unlikely, i believe and mindy believes, it's unlikely that the republican party will be able to make the kinds of changes it needs to make after this election. these are generational problems, so maybe over time, over a number of decades these changes the conservative movement doesn't have time for that. and if the republican party can't make the changes as it wasn't able to do in 2012, the conservative movement will need a new political vehicle, so at the very least i believe that's a new conservative movement along the lines that i've described here. it may mean a new conservative party. we'll just have to see, but mindy and i are skeptical, sadly, that the republican party is going to be able to make the changes it needs to make. >> is it fair to conclude you

>> i think they're both terrible, and i've described, george, what i think in this country is a leadership crisis and i think both hillary clinton and donald trump and the american people recognize this. these are the two most unpopular major party candidates ever to be nominated since we were measuring those kinds of sentiments and the american people know that they need better, that they deserve better. they -- both hillary clinton and donald trump personify this crisis, but it's not just them, it's our other leaders. it's our leaders who wouldn't stand up to hillary clinton and donald trump in the primaries because they were afraid that they were going to be criticized or that they would lose their seats in congress, for example. unfortunately, our leaders today, george, don't have the courage to stand up for americans, to stand up for equality and liberty. they've allowed racist -- the racist message of donald trump to spread throughout the country. they've allowed the government in washington, d.c. to grow and grow to the extent that it's depriving people of their liberties. we can't stand for this any

movement that i think will provide the kind of leadership to this country that it needs. >> evan mcmullin, thanks very much. >> thank you, george. our powerhouse roundtable coming up. plus, jon karl takes us inside the battle for the control of congress and martha raddatz on the ground in iraq with secretary of defense ash carter. coming up on "this week," we will have the latest on this massive ground battle to retake mosul. the secretary of defense will join us to tell us about the progress. >> announcer: "this week with george stephanopoulos" brought to you by voya financial. hey, jesse. who are you? i'm vern, the orange money retirement rabbit from voya. vern from voya? yep, vern from voya. why are you orange? that's a little weird. really? that's the weird part in this scenario? look, orange money represents the money you put away for retirement. save a little here and there, and over time, your money could multiply. see? ah, ok.

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rights, i also believe in background checks so that terrorists can't get their hands on one of these. i approve this message because i'd like to see senator blunt do this. >> could that ad decide control of the senate? it's put veteran and democrat jason kander into a dead heat with roy blunt in missouri, one of a dozen competitive races and jon karl is going to join us with a closer look at where things stand. democrats need to pick up at least four seats to gain back control an playing defense in most of those battlegrounds. >> that's right, george. democratic chances of winning the senate have gone up as donald trump's campaign has gone down. our partners at fivethirtyeight now puts the odds of a democratic takeover at nearly 70%. right now republicans hold the that majority with 54 seats and that means, as you pointed out, if they win the presidency, they need to pick up four seats to win a senate majority. in our latest abc news race ratings there are 11 competitive

currently held by republicans. two of them are already likely democratic pickups. that's illinois and wisconsin. three others tilt towards republicans. that's arizona, ohio and florida and six seats, the ones in yellow on the map are pure toss-ups. democrats only need to win half of those to win control of the senate. >> one of the things we've been seeing more on the stump right now, hillary clinton closely tying herself to her senate candidates. meanwhile, donald trump seems to put a lot of his candidates in kind of an awkward spot. >> yeah, and, remember, most of these states aren't just senate battle groups, they're presidential battlegrounds and in every single one of these race, republican candidates have been forced to account for things that donald trump has said and done. in these 11 competitive races, six of the republican candidates have actually refused to endorse their own party's presidential nominee and even those who still are endorsing trump have been highly critical of him. case in point, marco rubio over the past week, he has called on

election is rigged, to stop exploiting the wikileaks e-mails hacked by the russians, and, by the way, rubio says he still does not trust donald trump with the nuclear codes. listen to how he handled trump in the senate debate that i moderated down in florida on monday. >> i don't trust hillary clinton with classified information. she has proven that she cannot handle it and that she would expose it to foreign intelligence agencies as she has. >> ex-muse me. you trust do classified information? >> well, again, listen, news joe that this choice when it comes to this election i've admitted to you, this is two less than ideal options we have in this country. >> other republican candidates are running as if hillary clinton is certain to win. they are making the case, george, that there needs to be republicans in the senate willing to stand up to her. >> how much more likely to stay in republican hands the democrats would need to pick up 30 seats.

on both sides, nobody anticipates that democrats will get those 30 seats but republicans are certain to lose some. a top republican operative in the house tells me they expect to lose at least a half dozen seats and as many as 15 and, george, i would not rule out the possibility that we see a wave that takes everybody by surprise. if things go dramatically bad at the top of the ticket, republicans could suffer severe losses. >> yeah, a lot of experts say a win of eight points or more for hillary clinton could put the house in play. jon karl, thanks very much for that update. we'll have more of this on our roundtable and up next martha raddatz from the front lines of the battle for mosul, the last isis stronghold in iraq. do i look smarter? yeah, a little. lines of the battle for mosul, the last isis stronghold in iraq. esearch. let me introduce you to our broker. how much does he charge? i don't know. okay. uh, do you get your fees back if you're not happy? (dad laughs) wow, you're laughing.

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, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. iraqi and kurdish troops are backed by american power and are closing in on the last isis stronghold in iraq. the campaign for the key city of mosul is moving fast. but isis is putting up a fierce fight setting fire to a sulfur mine, executing dozens of civilians, and our martha raddatz is on the with the secretary of defense, ash carter. good morning, martha. >> reporter: good morning, george. thousands of americans are involved in this battle to retake mosul. most are on bases, but about 500 are out there assisting the iraqis putting their lives on the line. a hard fought week of territory regained from isis. >> the largest scale that any army has -- under attack that

probably our push to baghdad in 2003. >> reporter: from front lines west of the great zab river and just north at the qayyarah military base, 30,000 troops kurdish and iraqi moving towards the final prize with the aid of u.s. artillery and air strikes. but resistance has been fierce. mortars, automatic weapons and squads of suicide bombers. even isis armed drones here shot down by kurdish forces. and visible even from space, bomb craters and the black acrid smoke of war. isis blew up oil wells and sulfur stocks at a factory for cover. air so toxic, some iraqis donning hazmat gear to keep going. but amid the violence, celebration too. villagers and victorious iraqi soldiers marking the end of the

>> you cannot sleep without fear. you cannot guess when they will take you at night. >> reporter: church bells in the village of bardella outside mosul rang for the first time since the extremist takeover. it has not come without cost. dozens of iraqi forces believed killed this week and one american, navy chief petty officer jason finan hit by an ied, the first u.s. death since the operation began. secretary of defense ash carter addressing u.s. troops here about the loss. >> there is no more serious responsibility for me and nothing that i take more seriously than putting americans in harm's way. >> reporter: there are more than 5,000 u.s. service members in iraq. 500 are out on the ground with the iraqis.

just a few moments ago here in northern iraq and asked him about the dangers the americans are facing. >> make no mistake, whether they're flying airplanes overhead or whether they're advising units on the ground, even behind the front lines, they are at risk. it's also important everybody understand that we must do this. we have to protect ourselves. from isil. they intend harm to our country. >> reporter: how would you assess the progress? >> i'm encouraged because it's going according to plan. isil will surely be destroyed. >> reporter: the biggest battle, however, yet to come. the most hardened isis fighters an estimated 5,000, digging in for the last stand in mosul. it will come at a high human cost. the injured, the dead and the displaced. this refugee camp outside mosul

million displaced before this is over. despite the progress in this first week, retaking mosul will take many, many months and the aftermath will be even more complex. something the next president will have to deal with day one in office. george. >> this is just the beginning. okay, martha, thanks very much. our powerhouse roundtable is standing by live.

what has she been doing? >> oh, donald, no, no, don't set her up. >> i'd be happy to talk about the last 30 years. >> oh, no. not again. >> back in the 1970s i worked for the children's defense fund. >> yes, we know. >> then i was a senator in new york on 9/11. >> yeah, we get it. we get it. >> then i was secretary of state and i don't know if you've heard this before -- >> we have. >> but i was instrumental in taking down a man by the name -- >> osama bin laden. >> -- osama. >> bin laden. >> bin laden. >> yes. >> tom hanks, pretty good chris wallace. let's talk about "this week" with our roundtable joined by our political analyst matthew dowd. republican strategist sara fagen, democratic strategist jamal simmons, senior editor of "national review" and from "the nation" katrina vanden heuvel. you saw our poll.

joel benenson. how close to over is this? >> well, four score and seven blunders ago donald trump could have won this race if he had actually matured and developed some level of discipline. that would have been asking him to be somebody -- >> what was the point of no return? >> you know, i said two weeks ago that that moment in the first debate was like tiger woods hitting the fire hydrant and after that it was all over and he wasn't going to win another major again, and the great thing is the debates actually mattered. when you win all three they matter in this. the sc likely to happen are two things that seem so in conflict. first is hillary clinton is very likely to win, but she's going to be the first president in modern times to win and be disliked and mistrusted by a majority of the country and i was looking at the numbers today, her margin could be the largest margin of a democratic nominee for president in an open race since before the cubs were in the world series, 1932. she could have the largest margin since 1932 for a democrat in an open race. >> i think that's right. i mean, if you looked at the -- if you look at the electoral map

electoral votes and probably a lot closer to 340, if not higher. you know, to your question on the debate, i think it wasn't actually the first debate where it was the point of no return, it was the morning after the first debate when he erroneously brought up, you know, this feud with the miss universe and it's been downhill ever since for him. >> you did see katrina vanden heuvel over the course of the three debate, hillary clinton executing a pretty clear strategy. >> yeah. >> see if donald trump would take it. >> she got under his skin. she's a great counterpuncher. she was prepared and what i think she did in the last debate and coming off what sara said, you see in the poll today the gender gap, i think this election is going to show an unprecedented gender gap and it's not just that, it's -- you came away from that last debate i think millions of women saying we are all nasty women now because she's tied a party to the boorish predatory sexual

that's critical. i'd say one last thing. this election and what a tortuous winding election it's been, i think it revealed the distance between the establishment and the people in this country, and i think that's going to play out in an important way post-election. >> yeah, it's going to play out in both parties as well. and, jonah goldberg, you're from "national review" and you made no secret of your opposition to donald trump early on. sketch out the alternate universe that matt dowd hinted at right there. this is not over yet. o what could donald trump have done earlier to make this more competitive closer today. >> well, this is sort of the problem. i agree entirely with matt that the debate was the sort of pivotal moment but it also is based upon a sort of -- a mistaken understanding of donald trump. there's always been this myth he could pivot. he said in the primaries that come the general election i'm going to pivot and be so presidential. it was all untrue. and what we saw in the debates was that he is incapable of staying on message and being a disciplined candidate. it's an aesopian thing.

frog because that's what scorpions do. donald trump has to be donald trump because that's what he is and he is trying to invoke the gettysburg address and spends the first ten minutes talking about how all these women are lying. i don't remember lincoln talking about how all the women who accused him of groping them were liars. it's a very changed thing. >> i don't remember that either. talking about transforming and evolving right now, how does hillary clinton evolve in these final two weeks to address this polarization and these ugly feelings that are out there? >> well, one thing we see her doin talking to states where there are real senate campaigns that matter. one of the numbers in the poll today that i saw that really mattered is she's about 43% with white voters, but donald trump is at 37. bill clinton in '96 was at 43. if you're a democrat and getting 43% of the white vote, you're doing pretty well but what's happening to all those other white voters sitting out. i think that's the place where maybe she can spend some time going after some of those voters

into the fold. >> she missed a real opportunity in that final debate in her closing argument to talk about bringing people together. and i believe she didn't do that because her base is so left, it has pulled her so left that she made a calculation that she didn't -- she couldn't do that just yet in this election cycle and to me that says that even if she does, in fact, win, the country is not going to come together any time soon. >> let me take issue with this idea that the base is so left. i mean, as i said -- >> the base is so left. >> this election has revealed a distance between the establishment, the elite and people. and i think post-election, the democratic party needs to address issues that elevated donald trump, corporate trade deals which ravaged communities. how do you speak to an inclusive populous in which bernie sanders elevated and how do you fulfill a democratic platform which the party agrees on? >> it's all over -- >> mainstream positions and finally the end of work in this country, the end of conventional

trumpist but are also -- >> and, katrina, the problem could be politically depending on what happens in these final days, what happens, how does hillary clinton do that if the republicans hold on to the house and can block her agenda, which, you know, the agenda where she's absorbed a lot of the bernie sanders ideas. >> this is the thing. as i mentioned earlier, she's going to be re-elected on election day where half of her voters aren't voting for her. they're voting against donald trump that she's disliked and distrusted by th series of issues because this hasn't been argued over issues in this. i think donald trump for all the things we've said about donald trump and the buffoonery nature of it, he's like the guy that's pointing at the moon and you look at the guy until you see the roone, right? donald trump is point iing at the moon which is a very frustrated working class part of the country, the same thing bernie sanders pointed at in the democratic primary. that's not going away. it's been growing and building for 30 years. hillary clinton has to figure out in a very divided country in a very democratically diverse

doesn't like her, is she a transformational leader and does she do that? the final two weeks she has an opportunity to become her as well just like donald trump didn't do to become something that people perceive as not -- which is a transformational leader that can speak to the whole country. >> george, the name that we didn't hear today is paul ryan. >> i was just going to bring that up. >> and i think when we were talking about what does she do to bring the country together, if she can win a democratic she has to develop a relationship with paul ryan. >> on that question a little more, let's say for the sake of argument the democrats pick up seats in the house but do not get control, you've seen paul ryan attacked by donald trump, attacked by his voters, attacked by evan mcmullin earlier today. can he remain as speaker? will he want to remain as speaker if they lose seats? >> that's a very good question whether he will want to remain or not. i think he's going to have to answer the question about what his future looks like much earlier than previous house

it's going to be very difficult. even if he remains as speaker, i think that the republicans would probably lose 25 or 26 seats right now. >> it's right up to the edge. >> so he's going to govern with a very narrow majority, and he's going to lose many of those suburban members of congress. if you look in your poll, white women and particularly college educated white women are fleeing the republican party and fleeing these house seats right now too. >> he's going to have to be working if she wins with hillary clinton and responding to a lot of members in his conference who have majority trump voters in their district. >> look, it's going to be a hot mess. when jennings brian had enough power to win the nomination three times in a row but he didn't have enough to win the presidency, if donald trump doesn't play nice when and if he loses, and he decides that he is just going to be a spoiler or create this television network, we could see -- i would predict that we are going to see a new party emerge because there's just no way you can reconcile

a government, individual liberty, constitutionalism with a populist -- >> so the end of the republican party? >> it's entirely possible. >> i think that we are going to see tectonic shifts and realignments of parties in the next few years. >> absolutely. >> but let me just come back, the poll today also is interesting because majorities are not accepting donald trump's idea of a rigged election. they don't like that. and i think that he is alienating his own voters as if they don't have the agency to make a change, but there's this argument that trump is not really part of the republican party. voter suppression is far more dangerous than voter fraud, and that has been a systemic effort on the part of the republican party to disenfranchise millions, so i think that -- it's the first election, george, it's the first election -- >> that's not accurate. >> it's the first election being held without the full protection of the voting right as act because we have a right wing court that gutted a central civilizing advance --

>> i don't think that's right. there's -- just like there is no systemic evidence to suggest that the election is rigged, there's no systemic evidence to suggest that republicans are trying to suppress voters and have been doing that for some period of time. >> did you listen to the tapes, scott walker tapes that came out where he literally is talking about -- >> that's a paradox too. [ all talking at once] >> project veritas got $110,000 from the trump foundation. [ all talking at once ] >> i think the issue is is paul ryan will have to make a decision, republican lears election night, and that's the moment they should have and could have been principled much more to grasp a hold of where the country is. but i think one of them has to stand up on election night and be the designated driver and take the car keys away from donald trump and concede and on his behalf and say enough is enough. it's time we -- >> don't you think he will concede if it's clear? >> he said that actually. he said he will accept a clear

we see today, the result is going to be very clear. >> do you think he'll hold to that message for more than 72 hours? you know, particularly -- >> 72 minutes. >> yeah, i mean, that's the thing. you know, surrogates saying, oh, he's just talking about media bias and in minutes donald trump goes on twitter and says, no, no, i'm talking about real rigged polling places. >> anything hillary clinton if she wins can do about donald trump once he loses? >> i think what hillary clinton can do is go to some of the rational republicans who have stayed around donald trump and get them to come out and make sure they know this is over. so you see somebody like mike pence come out and congratulate hillary clinton and paul ryan come out and congratulate hillary clinton, you'll see, okay, who's left. important for some of the folks donald trump can be by himself sitting in a corner being one of the least patriotic candidates for president i've ever seen in this country. >> george, the problem -- i don't think she should go and talk to republicans actually at this point because i think they're all tainted with this. donald trump is not the cause of this. donald trump is a symptom of this.

>> she has to address this. i think she needs to talk to independent, talk to independent leaders an the country and build something new. >> that is going to have to be the last word today.

and we will be here to bring you all the results on election day right when the first polls close at 7:00 p.m. plus live coverage all day long on our abc news app on abcnews.com and on our abc news facebook page. that's all for us today. thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out "world news tonight" and i'll see you tomorrow on "gma." i'll see you tomorrow on

[cc] (narrator) the home hunter with tiffany hunter. for more than 34-years the home hunter has been helping people find their dream home, and learn about home-related products. brought to you in part by arizona wholesale, and those calloways. hi thanks for joining us once again for the home hunter. the show that will help you find your dream home and learn all about new and innovative products. so whether you are buying a new home or remodeling we've got some terrific ideas for you today. make yourselves comfortable. sit back and relax and let's get started. i'm very excited to be out at another toll brother's location. and we're out here with daniel lopez. and tell us what community we're at. >> you're at avian meadows. that is in chandler. >> it is a gorgeous area out here. first let's talk about the homes a little bit, square footage, how many bedrooms what have you got. >> sure we range from 2700 to 4500 square feet.